Arch Linux
Installation
Download an ISO image, verify its signature and its checksum:
$ sha1sum -c archlinux-2015.06.01-dual.iso.sha1 archlinux-2015.06.01-dual.iso: OK $ gpg --recv-keys 9741E8AC $ gpg --verify archlinux-2015.06.01-dual.iso{.sig,}
Booting the image will not enter an installation routine but will drop to a shell. Set a (root) password and enable sshd:
passwd systemctl start sshd.service
If necessary, add a default route for internet access too:
ip route add default via 10.0.0.1
Add DNS information:
$ grep '^[a-z]' /etc/resolv.conf search local nameserver 10.0.0.2
Now we should be able to login via SSH and continue with the installation. See the Installation guide for further steps.
Partitioning
If we decide for a GPT partitioning scheme[1]:
$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 4G 0 disk
sr0 11:0 1 734M 0 rom /run/archiso/bootmnt
loop0 7:0 0 317.8M 1 loop /run/archiso/sfs/airootfs
Note: since version 2.25, cfdisk also supports GPT. Let's use gdisk anyway for now:
$ gdisk /dev/sda
Command (? for help): o # create a new empty GUID partition table (GPT)
Command (? for help): n # add a new partition
Partition number (1-128, default 1):
First sector (34-8388574, default = 2048) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Last sector (2048-8388574, default = 8388574) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +1M # We need a 1 MB "BIOS boot partition" for GPT
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): ef02
Changed type of partition to 'BIOS boot partition'
Command (? for help): n
Partition number (2-128, default 2):
First sector (34-8388574, default = 4096) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Last sector (4096-8388574, default = 8388574) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: -128M # Use the the remaining disk space, minus 128 MB
Current type is 'Linux filesystem'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300):
Changed type of partition to 'Linux filesystem'
Command (? for help): n
Partition number (3-128, default 3):
First sector (34-8388574, default = 8126464) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Last sector (8126464-8388574, default = 8388574) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: # Use the remaining disk space
Current type is 'Linux filesystem'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): 8200
Changed type of partition to 'Linux swap'
Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 8388608 sectors, 4.0 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 7EE317A0-6C4F-4A93-B0E7-D03BFC83F283
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 8388574
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2047 sectors (1023.5 KiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 4095 1024.0 KiB EF02 BIOS boot partition
2 4096 8126430 3.9 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
3 8126464 8388574 128.0 MiB 8200 Linux swap
Command (? for help): w # write table to disk and exit
Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING PARTITIONS!!
Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y
OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/sda.
The operation has completed successfully.
Note: the cgdisk routine would have been easier ;-)
File systems
Create file systems:
mkfs.jfs /dev/sda2 # See these notes for supported file systems mkswap /dev/sda3 $ blkid -s TYPE /dev/sda2: TYPE="jfs" /dev/sda3: TYPE="swap" /dev/sr0: TYPE="iso9660" /dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
Enable swap, mount file systems:
mount -t jfs /dev/sda2 /mnt swapon /dev/sda3
Software
Adjust mirror list:
cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist mirrorlist.orig grep -A1 United\ States mirrorlist.orig | sed 's/^--//' > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist # Adjust as needed!
Install the base group:
$ pacstrap /mnt base ==> Creating install root at /mnt ==> Installing packages to /mnt [...]
Generate an fstab:
genfstab -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
chroot into the new installation:
arch-chroot /mnt
Configure more system settings:
echo arch0 > /etc/hostname ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/PST8PDT /etc/localtime
Install locales:
$ grep -v ^\# /etc/locale.gen en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 $ locale-gen Generating locales... en_US.UTF-8... done $ echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
Bootloader
Configure & create initrd:
$ grep ^[A-Z] /etc/mkinitcpio.conf MODULES="jfs" BINARIES="" FILES="" HOOKS="base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck" $ mkinitcpio -p linux ==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: 'default' -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux.img [...]
Install the GRUB bootloader:
$ pacman -S grub [...] $ grub-install --recheck /dev/sda Installing for i386-pc platform. Installation finished. No error reported. $ grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg Generating grub configuration file ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-linux Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img Found fallback initramfs image: /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img done
Network
Create configuration file for netctl
$ cd /etc/netctl/ $ cp examples/ethernet-static enp0s3 # Adjust the NIC name! $ cat enp0s3 Interface=enp0s3 Connection=ethernet IP=static Address=('10.0.0.32/24') Gateway='10.0.0.1' DNS=('10.0.0.2') $netctl start enp0s3# Running in chroot, ignoring request. $ netctl enable enp0s3
Install OpenSSH:
pacman -S openssh systemctl enable sshd.servicesystemctl start sshd.service# Running in chroot, ignoring request.
Enable pam_cracklib:
$ grep ^p /etc/pam.d/passwd password required pam_cracklib.so difok=2 minlen=8 dcredit=2 ocredit=2 retry=3 password required pam_unix.so sha512 shadow use_authtok
Set a password:
$ passwd Enter new UNIX password: Retype new UNIX password: passwd: password updated successfully
If all went well, the machine can be rebooted and should be installed now.
Packages
Install missing packages:
pacman -S --needed arpwatch atop autossh bash-completion bc binutils checksec cronie cryptsetup dosfstools ecryptfs-utils git haveged hdparm iftop iotop iperf3 lsof make mlocate moreutils nfs-utils nftables nrpe openbsd-netcat p7zip pbzip2 pigz pv rsnapshot rsync screen smartmontools ssmtp strace sudo syslog-ng sysstat systemd-swap tcpdump unrar unzip vim vnstat w3m zstd
Enable various daemons as needed:
systemctl enable cronie.service haveged.service systemctl start cronie.service haveged.service
Postinst
rc.local
Since Arch Linux is using systemd, let's create an rc.local equivalent:
$ cat /etc/systemd/system/rc-local.service [Unit] Description=/etc/rc.local Compatibility [Service] Type=idle ExecStart=/etc/rc.local start StandardOutput=journal+console [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target $ sudo systemctl enable rc-local.service
The file /etc/rc.local needs to be executable too. Example:
$ sudo chmod 0700 /etc/rc.local $ cat /etc/rc.local #!/bin/sh logger "$0: test" $ sudo systemctl start rc-local.service $ sudo journalctl -n 1 -- Logs begin at Wed 2015-10-07 11:51:19 PDT, end at Wed 2015-10-07 12:39:13 PDT. -- Oct 07 12:39:06 arch0 root[278]: /etc/rc.local: test
updatedb
Install mlocate:
sudo pacman -S --needed mlocate
Enable the periodic updatedb generation:
$ cat /etc/cron.daily/updatedb #!/bin/sh /usr/bin/sudo -u nobody /usr/bin/updatedb
Adjust the database directory, so updatedb doesn't need to be run as root:
chown -c nobody:locate /var/lib/mlocate/ chmod -c 2750 /var/lib/mlocate/
kernel-modules-hook
When installing a new kernel, the current (running) kernel including its modules are removed. To prevent that, a hook script[2] can be used:
git clone https://github.com/saber-nyan/kernel-modules-hook.git kmh-git cd kmh-git makepkg --syncdeps --clean --install sudo systemctl daemon-reload sudo systemctl enable linux-modules-cleanup
Update
Arch Linux follows a rolling release model[3][4] and while an Arch system can be updated, there are no releases and the term upgrade may not apply.
Download fresh package databases from the server
pacman --sync --refresh --refresh # Short: pacman -Syy
Update installed packages:
pacman --sync --refresh --sysupgrade # Short: pacman -Syu